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2 thoughts on “January 26, 1938”

Soumitri, i was one of the first years in the class you lectured at on Friday.
I’ve been thinking about the question you posed, and my thought is that design has been a device used to momentarily satisfy the rich, and also the designer. The designer has power to turn a thought into a solid object, and the rich have the means to pay for that process. It’s not necessarily a bad thing all the time; people do need objects in their lives, but the question is do consumers really need the amount of things they buy, and are these objects smart environmentally, culturally, emotionally, and what do they mean for the future?
To me I think design is a tool that can and should be used to change people’s lives. We have the ability to make a difference, albiet a small one at first, but effects aren’t always noticed at once. I think we need to really look at people’s needs, the small, mundane things that affect their everyday lives, and their cultures and societies, and be sensitive to these aspects.
As to the second question-focusing on global poverty is a very important issue that really takes consideration…but to understand the situation, people also need to understand the culture. Anything we change can have countless unexpected effects that really need consideration, but, that’s what design can be used for.
Designers really need to be put in the shoes of the people they’re designing for.

Thank you for your post. Its such a relief. Re design and people’s lives – I agree completely with all that you say. Yes “design is what designers do” – and in its way is defined by the place where they live and work – and for the local people they design for. But in Australia in 2010 – design is a shrinking economy (shrunken economy actually) and the designers of the future have to have a better sense of who they are and what they do.

I do push for a transnational way of doing design in Australia – live in Melbourne and work all over. A bit like Kylie and Cate Blanchett. But to do that we need to think in ways that are relevant overseas in different contexts.